This invention relates to a buckling fender used as an impact buffering means for a ship coming alongside a quay.
Various types of fenders are known. Among them, the so-called buckling fender has a hollow cylindrical body molded from a rubber-like elastic material and is so constructed that an end of the hollow cylindrical body in its axial direction is secured to the quay and an impact-receiving board can be fitted to the other (free) end thereof. In this type of fender, when an impact is given thereto by a ship coming alongside the quay, the hollow cylindrical body is buckled and deformed in the axial direction while producing a reaction force which acts to buffer the impact.
In such buckling type fenders, a considerably large amount of rubber-like elastic material is used for forming the hollow cylindrical body. Therefore, if a reduction of the amount of such rubber-like elastic material required for forming the fender body is realized, it leads to a significant reduction of fender production cost and a reduction of weight that can facilitate the fender installation. However, decrease of thickness of the hollow cylindrical body for attaining a weight reduction poses the problem that the energy absorbing efficiency is accordingly lowered to reduce the buffering performance of the fender or even to make it unserviceable for the purpose.